Beschrijving

This volume presents a classical Buddhist sūtra, the Catuṣpariṣatsūtra, which narrates the foundational events of the Buddhist community—from the bodhisattva’s enlightenment through to the conversion of two key disciples, Śāriputra (Upatiṣya) and Maudgalyāyana (Kolita). It offers a detailed account of early Buddhist communal development, including formative sermons, the establishment of the monastic order, and the defining moral-spiritual decisions faced by the early followers. Beyond its narrative role, the text functions as a canonical instruction-manual for monastic discipline—illustrating how the order took shape, the interrelations of monks, the role of the Buddha in founding the saṅgha, and how the early community grappled with symbolic, doctrinal and organizational questions. This edition offers an English translation (by Ria Kloppenborg) of a scholarly German edition, making accessible a key primary source for students of Buddhist studies, religious history and textual criticism.